As if She Were My Own
by rc3wondere
Summary: Ratchet and Clank find a newborn baby abandoned after her planet was invaded. What in the world will they do with her? With no idea how to take care of babies, this is one challenge they have never faced before.


She was not even a month old yet. Completely abandoned in a cold, dark crevice between two rocks. Maybe her parents did not care anymore? Leaving this poor child alone in the dark? One could say her parents might have not loved her anymore. Luckily, this was not the case.

She was abandoned because of the invasion of her home planet. Her home was taken over by warbots, and her parents had no choice but to hide her, to keep her safe.

It was a quiet, usual afternoon. The baby girl's mother was breastfeeding her while her father was working outside on his ship. The father leaned into the ship, forehead dripping with sweat as he stood directly into the sun's rays. Their home planet was Veldin, a desert planet, known for getting very hot and dry during the summer months. One could argue it was always summer here, but during the "winter" it does cool down some, and even rains a little.

As the baby girl's mother finished feeding her, she heard a gunshot outside. Panicked, she peered out the window and saw that her husband had been shot. He laid motionless with his rifle in his left hand. He had attempted to protect himself and his family but sadly failed.

The door slammed open. "Get up!" Screamed a warbot.

The mother peered up at the robot as she slowly dropped down to the ground. Soon enough, an invasion of warbots flooded the home, which gave the mother time to grab her baby girl and sneak out.

The mother did not walk far, and found two rocks sitting next to a rock wall. "This outta be alright." She whispered to herself.

Tears rolled down her face as she had placed her child between the rocks to hide her. "Mommy loves you." She cried. "Mommy will never abandon you, my child."

She kissed her baby on the forehead as she gently closed the rocks to conceal her. The baby started crying, and so did the mother, but the mother knew deep down that this was not safe for her child anymore. She did not have a choice anymore. The warbots were taking over and her baby's life was in great danger. As soon as she walked away from where she hid her child a warbot had covered her mouth and knocked her out with his hand. At this point, who knew when she could see her child again…

Back in Metropolis, Ratchet and Clank were sitting on the couch, taking a nap while "Behind the Hero." The apartment was nice, it had two bedrooms, one bathroom, a nice kitchen featuring stainless-steel appliances with white cabinets featuring a nice black-granite island and countertops included, lots of windows that featured a breathtaking view of the city, hardwood flooring (it used to have white carpet but Ratchet kept spilling things on it), and a very large living space with a beautiful black couch, glass coffee table, and a 55' plasma screen TV. It was always quiet, hardly ever any crime. Ratchet absolutely loves this apartment, but Clank would rather something with a little more "character" to it. Clank says that the apartment was "bland" and "too modern." Funny, considering that he is supposed to be the "state of the art" robot.

Ratchet's cell phone in his pocket started ringing.

"Pick up the phone jackass!" His supposedly "hilarious" ringtone kept yelling at him.

"Wake up!"

"Someone is calling jackass!"

Ratchet groans as he checks the caller ID. It is Talwyn on the other line. Ratchet instantly blushes as he answers the phone. "Oh, hi Talwyn! Long time no see, how have you been?!"

Talwyn's voice became a bit raspy. "Ratchet, something is very wrong, you have to go home."

Ratchet was puzzled. "What do you mean? Clank and I are at the apartment now."

"No, Ratchet." She paused. "Home to Veldin. There is an invasion and they need help now."

Ratchet's face went pale. "How do you know this?"

"The rangers called me asking for help. But, you know, since I broke my leg last week I can't do anything to help."

Talwyn had fallen down the stairs the previous week, thus breaking her leg.

"Talwyn, I would love to help…" Ratchet paused. "…but right now, my ship is inoperable. I can't go anywhere until I get the engine repaired."

Talwyn went quiet for a second. "Maybe you could borrow mine?"

"Alright, I guess." Ratchet frowned. "Just send me the coordinates once I pick up the ship and I'll be right there."

Ratchet threw Clank up in Talwyn's ship roughly.

"Hey watch it!" Clank snapped.

"Sorry Clank." Ratchet said as he hopped into the driver's seat. "I guess I'm just really nervous." He looked his robot friend into the eyes. "I'm scared I'll be too late."

"Well we need to leave now." Clank demanded. "Those citizens are in utter danger and they need to be rescued."

"I agree, Clank. Let's go."

Ratchet soon took off into space in Talwyn's little pink ship. He was not too happy about flying it, but that was all he had until he could get his ship repaired. As he hit the warp-drive to get them to Veldin faster, Ratchet thoughts were racing as they always do. He kept thinking about home, where he came from, and if any of his loved ones were killed. He would do anything to protect his home planet, despite him not have been there for quite some time. Ratchet almost cried, but he knew that would not be the "hero" thing to do. After all, heroes do not cry. Ratchet knew that and he had to keep his tears from rolling down. Clank did not notice, as he was too busy blowing the dust out of his little compartment.

It took forever, no words were spoken, but at last Veldin was approaching. Ratchet saw the red planet had actually turned black from the damage the warbots had done.

"I think we're too late, Clank." Ratchet sighed as he stared at the doomed planet.

"Ratchet, just land. We will know when we get there. If we save a life we saved one more then we have in this entire month."

Ratchet began to prepare the ship for landing. As he approached the landing pad, he saw just how bad the invasion was. Fires were breaking out left and right, bodies of innocent citizens littered the sandy ground, and warbots were patrolling all across the land. Ratchet knew if he were going to rescue anyone he would have to not get noticed by any warbots. He did not have his entire arsenal with him, so his only means of defense were his bomb glove and his wrench.

Ratchet snuck past some bots and noticed that they were guarding a very small village. As soon as Ratchet passed the bots, no more bots were in this village, but bodies of locals eerily greeted the Lombax as he walked across the ground.

"This place is creepy." Ratchet choked.

Clank soon perked up, hearing a baby's cry coming from the distance. Clank's hearing is a lot better than Ratchet's, so he hears things that Ratchet might not hear.

"Ratchet, do you hear that?" Clank asked.

"Hear what?"

"A baby."

Ratchet gave Clank a funny look. "No, I don't hear a baby, Clank."

"We should go find it. I hear it." Clank insisted.

"We'll split then. You can go find the baby, I'll go look for survivors."

Clank rolled his eyes. "Sometimes, if you want something done right you have to do it yourself." He muttered.

Clank wandered for a few minutes, hearing the crying getting louder and louder as he went father. The crying soon became really loud, and appeared to be coming from two rocks. "Why would a baby be here?" Clank asked himself. He moved the two rocks apart and sure enough, he found a baby screaming in a box.

"Oh goodness!" Clank quickly picked up the child and began to attempt to rock it. "I am so sorry, you must be miserable right now. I need to take you to Ratchet right now."

The baby did not stop crying and Clank became even more worried. "Please stop crying." He begged.

He soon learned he had to ignore the baby's crying and find Ratchet. The baby was very heavy to him, and as soon as he set off, he became increasingly worried he was going to drop the child. "Please stop crying, please." He begged. But the child did not stop crying.

"Clank?!" He heard Ratchet's voice from a distance.

"Over here, Ratchet!" Clank yelled back.

"Is that a baby crying?"

The baby was screaming as loud as it could scream. "Yes, Ratchet." Clank tried to be louder than the infant. "I found a baby and it will not stop crying."

Ratchet sprinted over to Clank. He stared at the child Clank was holding. Clank handed the child over to him and sighed in relief.

"It's…it's a baby." Ratchet looked at Clank with intense fear in his eyes.

"I know it is. What are we going to do with it?" Clank asked.

"Maybe find its parents?" Ratchet observed his surrounding and saw nobody but warbots. "Okay, well maybe someone in Metropolis will know what to do with it."

"Are you suggesting we take this child back to Metropolis?" Clank asked with intense concern.

"What other options do we have? I doubt its parents are even alive to be totally honest. This planet is toast."

"We need it to stop crying or the warbots will notice us." Clank sternly remarked.

Ratchet held the baby in the air. "Hey little one, please stop crying, or we will be noticed."

The baby did not stop crying.

"Ratchet do something!" Clank cried.

"I'm trying!" Ratchet tossed it slightly up in the air and caught it. "Happy fun day! Happy fun day! Please stop crying, please stop crying baby!" Ratchet begged.

The baby did eventually stop crying, only when Ratchet was bouncing it in the air, its blanket it had fell off, reveling that it had no diaper on.

Ratchet laughed. "So, you're a girl I see?"

The baby girl started giggling in response.

"Come on let's get back to the ship." Ratchet gestured Clank that he was walking back to the ship.

As Ratchet managed to sneak back to his ship, he couldn't help but think where would he possibly take this child? Talwyn might know, but for now, his only plan was to keep the child in his apartment until he figured out what to do. Clank probably wouldn't appreciate it, but Ratchet was not about to allow this child to be alone again.

Ratchet climbed into the ship, holding the child in his arms.

"Are you going to hold that child while you drive?" Clank asked.

"Unless you want to hold her." Ratchet smirked.

Clank decided to hold the baby so Ratchet could fly the ship back home. Ratchet handed him the infant and was relieved he didn't have to hold her while he flew back.

"What are we going to do?" Clank asked.

"I'm not sure, Clank." Ratchet sighed. "I was thinking just keep her in the apartment…"

Clank's voice became stern. "Ratchet, we don't know anything about keeping a child."

Ratchet became irritated. "I know that Clank." He gripped the control stick. "I'll figure out something, I promise. For now, I am not sure what to do."

The baby slowly fell asleep in Clank's arms.

"Well, for now, we need to focus on finding somewhere for her to go." Clank sighed.

Ratchet smiled. "For now, Clank, I feel we can keep her. I mean this will be a great opportunity, we could learn something new!"

"Yes, I suppose you are right. But what are we going to feed her?"

Ratchet thought for a moment. "Maybe just prepare a little extra when you cook dinner?"

Clank thought for a moment. "Do babies eat steak, hamburgers, or chicken nuggets?"

"I'm not sure." Ratchet responded. "But I do see little kids eat chicken nuggets all the time. Maybe she'll eat that."

"Perhaps. What do you think we should call her for now?"

"I was thinking about Violet."

"Why Violet?" Clank asked.

"I just like the name." Ratchet smiled.

"I like it too." Clank hugged the sleeping Violet.


End file.
